Unraveling Destiny
by griffindork93
Summary: When Percy visits the Oracle, she gives him the Great Prophecy instead of the lightning bolt one. At tale of how Percy faces his destiny when he knows from the beginning what is to come.
1. The Mummy that Didn't Speak

**AN: Quick note to all those following me. I know this is not the chapter you were expecting, or even story for that matter, but I was rereading Percy Jackson recently and this plot bunny would not leave me alone. I'm aiming to have a new chapter for all my other stories by Christmas, so bear with me please. In the meantime, enjoy a new story. The start of this chapter is taken from The Lightning Thief, which is owned by Rick Riordan**

By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all; a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.

Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trapdoor, but it slammed shut. Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask._

I wanted to say, _No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. _But I forced myself to take a deep breath.

The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely _not _human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.

I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"

I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely was for the mummy to move. I instinctively took a step back, thinking of the time when I had watched _The Mummy. _There was no way I was going to let some hippie mummy eat me.

But it didn't reach for me. Instead it unclasped one of its necklaces and expectantly held out her withered hand.

The last thing I wanted to do was touch the mummy, but with the trapdoor still shut and those creepy white eyes looking at me, although I didn't know how it could see, I grabbed the necklace from it.

It was a leather pouch. It looked kinda like a Native American medicine pouch on a cord braided with feathers.

The mummy resettled on her stool.

"Um, thanks." Glassy white eyes continued to stare at me, then slid down to the pouch I still held.

Taken the unspoken clue, I opened the pouch, pulling out a roll of parchment the size of my pinkie. I unrolled it gently. It was yellowed and cracked and old, and I was afraid that it would crumble into dust and then I would fail my quest before I even started. And then Zeus would play target practice and hit me with a lightning bolt.

My eyes skimmed the words. My heart stopped beating and my stomach felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath me. Almost like on one of those rollercoasters where the ride takes you up really high and then drops straight down suddenly at 200mph.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

"Well?" Chiron asked me. "What did the Oracle tell you, Percy?"

I sat in a chair in the council room. Mr. D and Grover were both there. The former wasn't paying any attention to me, which at the moment, I was kind of glad for. Grover fidgeted anxiously, throwing me a nervous look as he chewed on a tin can.

"Tell me? Was she supposed to speak?"

That got Mr. D's attention, along with Chiron's and Grover's.

"Percy, are you saying that the Oracle did not speak with you? She did not give you a prophecy?"

I know it wasn't the most important thing at the moment, but I couldn't stop myself. "The mummy is a she?" I blurted.

"Did she look like a male Peter Johnson?"

"It's Percy Jackson."

"Yes, yes, whatever, Perry Jameson. Why didn't the Oracle give him a prophecy?"

"Perhaps he is not meant to retrieve the bolt," mused Chiron.

"But what about Lord Zeus?" Grover stuttered. "He's given Percy a deadline. If the Oracle didn't give him a quest, how is he going to return the bolt?"

"Slow down a minute. I never said it didn't give me a prophecy. I just said she didn't tell me one."

Chiron turned to face me, worried eyes meeting mine. "What do you mean, Percy?"

I held up the leather pouch the Oracle gave me.

The reactions were instantaneous. Chiron turned as pale as a part horse could, which was surprisingly white. Grover fainted, falling out of his chair with his hooves sticking up. Mr. D. did that weird bending light trick and created another goblet of wine out of thin air. Thunder rumbled, but Chiron didn't scold the camp director like he had the first time.

"Did you read it yet, Percy?"

I gave the centaur an odd look. Of course I read it. I was told to go to the Oracle and get a prophecy. A creepy mummy handed me one, so I read it. Why did one prophecy warrant such reactions? I couldn't have been the first one to get one. Luke must have when he went on his quest. I guess the Oracle must usually speak her prophecies and not hand them out like candy. But still, they seemed a little dramatic to me.

"This is not good," Mr. D. muttered as he sipped his wine.

Not even a week at camp and I'm already in trouble. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest record yet. Although I don't think the resident god had any room to be talking. Chiron had said he was on restriction, but here he was drinking wine. I bet once Zeus was going to pitch him off Mount Olympus, right after me, of course.

"Would you read it, Percy?"

I refrained from rolling my eyes,

"_A half-blood of the eldest gods _

_shall reach sixteen against all odds,_

_And see the world in endless sleep,_

_The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap._

_A single choice shall end his days._

_Olympus to preserve or raze."_

"I am sorry, Percy."

"Sorry?"

"I was not expecting this." Chiron said. "Zeus will take this as proof that you have stolen his master bolt."

"What!" I exclaimed, leaping to my feet. "This prophecy doesn't even mention his stupid bolt. How can he use this to blame me? I didn't steal his bolt!"

Chiron shook his head wearily. "That matters not, Percy. The prophecy you just read is known as the Great Prophecy. It has been foretold that a child of the Big Three would one day either be responsible for saving Olympus or destroying it. In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore on the River Styx not to father any more children."

Well, Zeus and Poseidon certainly didn't keep that promise, obviously.

"You are destined to either save the Heart of the West or burn it to the ground. The gods will do everything in their power to ensure that you die so that the prophecy does not come to pass."

Great. A whole lot of immortals now hate my guts and want to see me dead. And I never wanted to go to summer camp. I can't imagine what I was thinking.

"But, shouldn't they keep me alive so I can save them? I mean, what reason do I have to destroy Olympus?" I asked.

"The gods will not care, Percy. You are a threat to their survival. You shall have to stay in camp and train for the future. I will do my best to protect you."

I stared open mouth at my once Latin teacher. Stay at camp? I couldn't stay at camp. I needed to get to the underworld and save my mom. "Couldn't we explain this to them? Somehow prove that I'm not going to kill them all? That I didn't steal Zeus's lightning bolt?"

In light of the current situation, the bolt was the most concerning, but I didn't want to be spare death because of the damn prophecy only to die because I didn't give back the bolt like Zeus ordered me to.

"I do not know that they shall believe you, Percy, but we must try. Go, pack your bags."

"Pack my bags?" I repeated.

"I am taking you to Olympus."

Prophecy still clenched in my hand, I returned to cabin three to back the little belongings I had. Three orange Camp Half-Blood tee-shirts that I was given upon arrival, some jeans and other shirts from the trip to Montauk, toiletries Luke had stolen for me when I was living in the Hermes cabin, and my Minotaur horn.

I was about to take the coolest field trip that I had ever had in my six years of schooling at six different schools. And this time, the cool part was that I didn't know whether or not I was going to die.


	2. I Face a Gruesome Death

**AN: Still taking some parts from the book, so if you recognize it, I don't own it. Capiche.**

Chiron prodded me into a white SUV (who owned SUV these days?), driven by the camp's head of security, Argus. He was blonde, built like a surfer, and had eyes all over his body. It certainly gave a new view to keeping an eye on things. He could probably keep two eyes on each camper here. Which, if you ignored that it could be viewed as pedophilia, was pretty wicked.

Argus the chauffeur drove us into the heart of New York City, halting outside the Empire State Building. Having lived in Manhattan all my life, I knew that the Empire State Building only had 102 floors. So imagine my surprise when Chiron rolls through the lobby in his wheelchair, nods at the guard sitting at the desk flipping through a magazine, unobtrusively taking the key card he is handed, and puts it in the security slot of the elevator, which made a red button with the number 600 appear on the console.

Who knew that Olympus could be found on the six hundredth floor of an iconic national monument?

The doors slid open and Chiron stood from his wheelchair, returning to his centaur form, and calmly walked down a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. I, on the other hand, gaped like a fish out of water. A distant part of my brain realized that I made a lot of comparison related to the sea and that it was most likely because of my father, but I paid no attention to it.

Below me was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed beyond Chiron to the stairway's end, where my brain just could not accept what I saw.

Look again, my brain said.

We're looking, my eyes insisted. It's really there.

From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces—a city of mansions—all with white-columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gardens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins and all its inhabitants weren't long dead. It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must have looked twenty-five hundred years ago.

Dazed, I trailed after Chiron as he called for me to hurry up, warning me against being late. I guess the gods were impatient, which was odd considering how long they lived. Shouldn't they have learned that patience was a virtue by now?

Chiron led me into a throne room. Okay room wasn't the right word to describe it. The place made Grand Central Station seem like a broom closet in comparison. A broom closet in my apartment. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations.

Twelve thrones were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. Each and every throne was occupied. Gods and goddesses stared, sneered, gazed, and ogled me as I followed the trainer of heroes in. I wondered how on earth they could have known we were coming, especially since I had to convince Chiron to take me to Olympus, when I realized one of the twelve gods was Mr. D. The camp director must have run to daddy when I rad the prophecy that practically promised I might end the world.

Zeus obviously sat in the center. The Lord of the Gods (Styx, I hoped I didn't accidentally call him the king titan liked I called Kronos king god during the trip to the museum. Given what little I knew, Zeus would probably turn me into a black spot on the marble floors of Olympus.) wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy gray.

I briefly acknowledge that the woman to his left must have been his wife and Queen of the Gods, Hera, but I was more interested in the man sitting on his right.

The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like mine. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel. But his eyes, sea-green like mine, were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too.

His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips. My ADHD was compelling me to jump on and take the chair for a ride around the throne room.

Chiron knelt before Zeus, and I quickly followed suit and dropped to my knee.

"Well, boy, where is my lightning bolt?"

Well, the gods never were known for their courtesy, but Zeus's attitude pissed me off. I had never been to Olympus before. There was no way I could have taken his stupid bolt, but he still insisted that I was the culprit and demand that I returned what belonged to him. There was a familiar sound of waves crashing ringing in my ears as I stood angrily.

"Look, Zeus," there were outraged gasps, "I didn't steal your bolt. I didn't even know I was a half-blood until a couple of days ago. I've been unconscious for three of them, and I've never been to Olympus before now. I didn't know that Poseidon was my father. He's never spoken to me, let alone even visited me or my mom, so I didn't take the bolt for him."

"Percy!" Chiron hissed.

The King of the Gods, stood, enlarging until he appeared the size of a giant. The room shook and thunder crashed when he spoke.

"Poseidon has claimed you as his son. He seeks to overthrow me. If you do not hand over my master bolt immediately I shall cast you off Olympus."

My rage, short as is was, boiled over at the god that would not listen. I decided to do something incredibly stupid and risky. Grover had mentioned that the Big Three swore on the River Styx because it was a binding oath.

"I swear on the River Styx that I did not steal your stupid lightning bolt."

Thundered rolled once more. Chiron's eyes widened as he stared at me. The gods wore varying expressions of shock. I felt particularly smug at the agog one on Zeus's face and couldn't resist smirking.

Next to him, my father was smiling broadly. I felt a warm feeling inside me when he smiled at me. It seemed familiar. Maybe he had visited me as a baby. That thought made me feel even better. The gods weren't supposed to be in contact with their kids according to Annabeth, but my dad had come to see me at least once.

"You swore on the Styx." Zeus said, rather stupidly. I nodded.

"You're not dead."

Binding oath, huh. I made a not to remember not to lie when swearing on the Styx. I didn't like the idea of a river that could kill me if I lied.

"Clearly," I said dryly, earning a couple of glares from the other gods and goddesses. But I didn't care about them. They were blips on a radar. The only thing that mattered was the stunned face Zeus wore, my revelation in the fact that I proved a god wrong, because how often does that happen, and the proud look my father was giving me.

My mother was the only person in my life that I had ever made proud. I still didn't understand. I didn't have magnificent grades or a great school record or any special talents. She was proud because she loved me. But now, I had made my father proud. I had done something noteworthy and he was _proud of me._ Maybe it was possible for me to have a relationship with him.

"I think you owe myself and my son an apology, brother." Poseidon's voice was soft, like waves washing over the beach, but it echoed throughout the room. Zeus sputtered, turning red in the face. Hera laid a hand upon his arm.

"I'm sorry for accusing you brother," he said through gritted teeth.

The Sea God tilted his head in my direction.

Gnashing his teeth even more, making me idly wondered if there was a god of teeth that took care of all the other gods' teeth or a dentist on Olympus, Zeus forced out an insincere apology to me.

Normally, I would have been stubborn and held a grudge. Who am I kidding? "I think you owe me more than just an apology, Zeus. You accused me of being a thief with no proof. You've tried to kill me once, and threatened to kill me again just minutes ago. I'm sorry, but sorry's not going to cut it. You owe my father more too. You accused him of treachery and treason."

"You insolent brat!"

"I want my father to be able to visit and talk to me." I talked over the Lord of the Sky.

"I think that is fair compensation, brother."

I smiled brightly at Poseidon, glad that my father supported me. I would have done it anyway, but it's nice to know that he wants me too.

The other Olympians spoke up. Most agreed with me and Poseidon and insisted that Zeus grant my wish. With so many against him, Zeus had no choice.

"Fine. But only if my bolt is returned by the summer solstice."

"What?!" I shouted, enraged. "I already told you I didn't take it. I don't know who did or where it is. I'm not responsible for finding it. You owe me."

Thundered cracked and the air took on a smell of ozone. "I owe no one, Percy Jackson. If you find and return my lightning bolt, I shall allow your father to visit with you."

My blood boiled at the unfairness. "Fine. But when I return your stupid bolt you will let Poseidon visit me. And you'll grant me another wish. Swear it on the Styx." I demanded.

"Very well. I swear on the River Styx that should you, Percy Jackson, return my master bolt, Poseidon will be allowed to break the ancient rule preventing the gods' contact with their children and I will grant you any other favor."

Apparently, that was all the dramatics for the day, as the Olympians began disappearing in flashes of light until only my father, Chiron, and I remained in the throne room.

Poseidon gripped me in a strong hug. "You get that from me you know. The sea does not like to be restrained. I'm so proud of you, Percy."

"Thanks, dad."

He stepped back, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Your mother is back in your apartment. She does not remember anything of the last four days."

I ashamed to admit that I had to think for a minute to remember what happened to my mother. "She's back. But I thought she was dead?"

"No, Percy. Hades took her hostage. Why I don't know, but once you swore on the Styx that you weren't the thief she was returned to your apartment in Manhattan."

We were silent then. What do you say to a father you've never spoken? A father you thought dead? A father that you learned only days ago was alive and only hours ago who he was?

Chiron cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Lord, Poseidon, but we should return to camp. Percy needs to confer with the Oracle and find Lord Zeus's bolt."

Poseidon nodded, releasing me. "I love you, son."

I'll admit it. I cried. I had always wanted a father. "I love you too, Dad."

Then I followed Chiron back out of Olympus and to Camp Half-Blood. Thanks to Zeus I had another visit with a mummy planned.

That was when I realized not once was my revelation of the Great Prophecy mentioned. Maybe I should ask Zeus not to kill me when I reveal that I've know I could possibly destroy Olympus when I return his bolt.


	3. I Refuse to Listen to Wisdom

I was not happy. Not happy at all. In fact, I think I was the exact opposite of happy. I hadn't been this unhappy since the first time I realized that my fat jerk of a step-loser was hitting my mom. I put a stop to that of course. Stinky Gabe was more than happy to hit me instead.

But that was besides the point.

Stupid Zeus was still making me find and fetch his stupid lightning bolt which he was stupid enough to lose. And this is what landed me in my current unhappy predicament.

Chiron and I had returned to camp well after midnight. I made to head to my cabin and get some sleep. It was an exhausting day in which I had met a talking mummy an almost died more times than I could count. All I wanted to do was crash on a soft bed and not dream of creepy pits with shadowy voices that tried to tempt me.

Those dreams had started as soon as I came to camp. And they only got stronger with each nice that passed. I couldn't understand what the meant, which admittedly wasn't unusual. I wasn't the brightest kid in sixth grade. All I knew is that they were bad news, like the FBI is hunting you bad.

Chiron seemed to not care that I needed sleep. He forced me up to the Big House and back into the attic. It was the last place I wanted to be.

The trapdoor shut behind me again. This time, I didn't move. Sure, there looked to be a really interesting collection of monster parts, clothes, fruit that managed to not rot despite the constant 100 degree temperature, broken swords, shields, pikes, lances, arrows, and what looked to be an ancient tapestry showing the twelve labor of Heracles. It all looked really cool and really wanted to poke around and see what was up here, but I wasn't taking another step towards that prophecy spouting mummy. The first time it gave me a prophecy it turned my already crazy life on its head, and I had had enough change to last a lifetime.

I need to say it now. Fate hates me.

It didn't matter that I was as determined as a dog that wanted a bone about not getting another set of riddles that made no sense. The Oracle got up off her stool and walked over to me. I tripped as I tried to scurry backwards and landed hard on my butt on the trapdoor.

The mummy cornered me and spewed the green mist again. Someone really needed to take her to a dentist because there was no way green breath was healthy.

This time the mist formed into shapes of people I knew, but they spoke with a raspy voice that had to belong to the Oracle. If this is what happens every time someone receives a quest, I am very glad that the Oracle did not speak with me the first time.

The first person was the step-loser himself: _You shall go west and face the god that is spurned._

Then was my mother. It irked me to see my mother next that jerk even in an illusion: _You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned._

Mom turned into Grover, who nervously bleated his line: _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

Last was surprisingly Luke: _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._

The figures dissolved and the mist retreated. The Oracle walked back to her stool and perched upon, becoming as still as a statue.

Now I had to confusing poems to deal with. I would have stayed and tried to get answers for the many questions running through my brain, but the trapdoor swung open behind me with a resounding crash, sending dust flying and causing me a coughing fit worthy of an asthmatic.

My second audience with the Oracle was over, and it had gone no better than the first. Besides, I could have stayed until I was covered in cob webs and as decayed as the Oracle and she probably wouldn't have said another word. I was starting to feel like the gods like making demigods' lives as difficult as they could. Why else would they set impossible quests and make it so hard to understand what they were supposed to do?

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

Chiron was waiting for me in the conference room, along with Mr. D. returned from Olympus and oblivious to the glare I was giving him for ratting me out. For reasons I couldn't fathom (wasn't fathom an awesome word. I had learned it in English at Yancy and made every effort to use it as often as I could. The world had a fathomless number of uses. And sound cool and sophisticated.) Grover was present.

Chiron beckoned me forward and bade me to sit next to him. I declined and sat next to Grover. I reasonably felt it I was any closer to our camp director that I would attempt to strangle him even though it was impossible to kill a god. As I crossed the room, I got a distinct feeling that I was being watched.

Chiron leaned forward. "Tell us exactly what the Oracle said."

I recited the prophecy, feeling awfully like a dog trained to do tricks whenever its owner demanded it. Chiron was pleased with it.

"That is good news, Percy. You will succeed in finding and returning the Lord of the Skies lost lightning bolt."

"Good news! I'm supposed to face a god with attention issues and get betrayed, and you call that good news?"

"But you will return the bolt."

"How do you know that? It also says that I will fail to save what matters most in the end. The only thing that matters on this quest is getting the bolt back to Zeus. Which it doesn't look like I'm going to do. Which means that Zeus is going to fry me like a chicken."

"Prophecies often have more than one meaning and are not understood until they have come to pass. Do not worry. It is possible that you fail to save something else."

"That's still not good news. According to the prophecy it's more important than the bolt and I'm not going to save whatever it is." I pointed out.

Chiron sighed. "I can say no more, Percy. You must choose two people to accompany on your quest. You will leave as soon as you are ready. You only have ten days until the solstice, and you must go to Los Angeles and confront Lord Hades. Grover has already offered to go with, if you will have him."

"Of course I will." Grover brightened. I felt better about this quest already if Grover was coming along. I would have somebody I knew and trusted. It would be just like our times at Yancy when we would sneak into the kitchens trying to find any kind of unhealthy food. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.

I had to admit that I was looking forward to the journey to the Underworld. Hades had a lot to answer for, sending a Fury, Minotaur, and hellhound after me. But I wanted to know why he had kidnapped my mother most of all. And now he might have been responsible for taking the bolt and having Zeus blame me and my father.

I was ready to take him on.

"The other has already volunteered, if you will take her."

I knew who Chiron was talking about before she even took off her invisibility cap. I wasn't thrilled about having Annabeth along. Sure, she was smart, but she wasn't very good at listening. And she was arrogant. I mean, she used me as a distraction and stood by and watched as Ares cabin tried to pummel me.

"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."

Forget that. There was no way I was taking this girl with me.

"No."

"What do you mean no, seaweed brain?" Annabeth screeched, rather like cleaning harpies I had seen in the kitchens. "How do you expect to succeed in this quest without me? You're not smart enough to get the bolt back."

"Annabeth!"

"That right there is why you're not coming." That shut up both Annabeth and Chiron. "I may not be as smart as a kid of Athena, but I'm not stupid. I don't need you for this quest. You don't care about finding the bolt. You just want to go out into the world. If you want that so badly just leave camp and take your chances with real life. You're not coming with me. And I was smart enough to swear on the Styx and prove my innocence."

With that snide comment said, leaving the blonde California girl opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, I turned back to Chiron. "I'll take Luke, if he wants to come."

I thought it would be smart to take along an older person. Someone that had already been on a quest and could help me if I was stuck. Luke could certainly do both. Plus, he was talented with a sword and not as arrogant as Annabeth. How's that for smart, Annie?

"Luke? You want to take Luke with you? He's already been on a quest! You need to give someone else a chance to go on a quest, seaweed brain!"

"Like you, you mean." I snapped at her. She was selfish too.

Chiron stopped the growing argument. "It is Percy's right as leader of the quest to choose who goes with him, Annabeth. If he wishes to take Luke and Grover, than he may. You shall have to wait until the next quest, my dear. Now, Percy, why don't you run down to Hermes cabin and explain the situation to Luke."

Directions given, I ran off to inform Luke, still thinking that Chiron ordered campers around like dogs trained to do tricks. I couldn't help but wonder what type of dog I would be. Maybe a black lab. That sounded cool. Or a hellhound. It would be cool to be one. It wasn't so cool to be dinner for one.

Luke answered the knock rather quickly. After I gave him the shortest synopsis I could, one that didn't involve my oath and the Great Prophecy, he flashed a roguish grin and told me to wait while he packed a bag.

I'm pretty sure he just grabbed his stuff, because all Hermes campers kept their belongings in bags where they could keep an eye on them. Their cabin was notorious for thieves.

He came outside, bag on his back, and holding something that looked suspiciously like the keys to the van Argus drove in his hand. He quickly shoved them in a pocket when he caught me staring at them and winked.

I ignored it. Argus wasn't much of a head of security if his car keys were stolen when he could literally have fifty eyes watching them. Besides, Luke was old enough to know how to drive and could get us to LA in three or four days.

Chiron saw us off, kind of. He didn't actually watch us leave. He told us good night and said he needed to sleep due to an early morning archery class. Annabeth attempted to plead with Luke to switch and let her come on the quest. For a daughter of Athena, she really wasn't that bright. Even if Luke did offer to stay behind and let her go, I would just leave her here and go without her. But Luke refused. Their talk devolved into a heated fight, at the end of which Annabeth stormed out of the Big House.

The three of us snuck passed Argus, a feat that deserved a medal of some sort. Maybe I should consider a career as a spy if this quest doesn't pan out. We rolled the camp van close to a mile away before actually getting in and starting it. Luke didn't want anyone to hear it and turn us in. Apparently, quest had to be completed on the participant's own merits. So help from camp, even in the form of a vehicle, was out of the question.

Good thing I never like following the rules anyway.


	4. I Fight a Traveling Circus

**AN: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long. My classes this semester all think that pop quizzes are the best way of ensuring that students come to class and that their prepared. Unfortunately they're right. I spend hours reading and studying chapters of four textbooks on the off chance that tomorrow will be the day that they spring a pop quiz. I've had seven already and class only started on the 17****th****.**

**Anyway, enough of my excuses. Enjoy!**

There were two possible explanations for how Luke managed to cross over half the United States in less than a day.

One: the Son of Hermes was a speed junkie that took advantage of the roads as was his right as the son of the god of travelers. Or two: the camp van was a magical car much like the magic baseball cap Annabeth owned, only it was as fast a Superman instead of being able to turn invisible. If it was one, I was finding a different ride back to New York. If it was two, not only was this the coolest car ever, even better than my dream Maserati, but it went a long way to explain why they never let campers use it on quests. Once we returned to camp, I was going to beg Luke to teach me to drive.

It was kind of weird really. Just because we were demigods didn't mean we had to set off on quests on foot with only a small pack and the best wishes of the villagers that were already preparing your funeral because you wouldn't be returning alive. But, seriously, it was the twenty-first century. Why would they walk when cars were available?

I had rather stupidly, in afterthought anyway, suggested we catch a plane. Grover had bleated loudly.

"You can't do that, Percy! Lord Zeus would knock you out of the sky. Didn't you ever wonder why your mother never took you on a plane?"

I honestly thought it was because her parents had died in a plane crash. I never would have thought that it was because I was the son of the Poseidon and that I had a territorial uncle that didn't want other demigods in his territory. Wait a minute, how did Grover know that I had never been on a plane? Just how well did he know my mother?

I had to forget that for the time being as Luke asked me to repeat the prophecy. I was actually surprised at my ability to recall the entire prophecy. As evidenced by my report cards, remembering was not a talent of mine. I suppose school just wasn't important enough.

"Well, the second half sounds nasty," Luke was interrupted.

"See!" I exclaimed, raising my hands, "Luke agrees with me. It's not a nice prophecy at all."

"But I find the first half troublesome. The prophecy clearly refers to Hades. He's the only god in the west and the only one shunned by the rest of Olympus. He's only allowed on Olympus one day a year, on the winter solstice. He couldn't have taken the bolt himself."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Gods can't steal other gods symbols of power. They can only act through demigods. They need us, not that they treat us like more than disposable soldiers." The last part was muttered by I caught the bitterness in Luke's tone. Apparently he wasn't too fond of the gods. Not that I could blame them. My brief meeting with them hadn't endeared me to any of them except my father.

"And Hades, surprisingly, has no children. He's the only one to not break the oath, which is rather ironic since his brothers forced him to make it. So, he couldn't have had someone take the bolt for him. I don't know what he has to do with this quest."

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

So Luke wasn't as much help as I had been hoping. He couldn't tell me any more about the prophecy. He didn't talk much after that discussion. I had pointed out that Hades could have bribed any other demigod to do his dirty work for him and got a 'shut up now' glare that promised extra sword lessons if I didn't. I was already positive that he lessons had left me permanently bruised. After that, his blue eyes were glued to the road.

Beyond knowing that the entrance to the Underworld was in Los Angeles, Luke didn't know its exact location or how to get in.

I tried to think about the heroes that had succeeded in returning from the Underworld, only to realize that I didn't know any stories in which that happened.

I blamed my ADHD, telling myself that there were legends in which heroes walked out of Hades' realm, and that I would know them if I had paid any attention to Chiron when he was at Yancy. Optimism had never been my strong suit, and currently my gut agreed.

However, Luke did say it was most likely that we wouldn't be coming back out.

It was a comforting thought. It tried not to dwell on it because the prophecy did say I would see the bolt safely returned to Lord Zeus who was in the middle of a temper tantrum if the storm overhead was anything to go by.

He could also be trying to make sure that I failed my quest so that he could kill me for talking to him as I did.

Grover was mumbling to himself about humans and pollution and cars and the disappearing wild. I also caught enchiladas and Pam, so I was pretty sure that he was asleep. But I decided that goat boy had the best idea. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

I will warn you now, never sleep in a car. The shaky legs when you finally stand, the cramped and aching muscles in your back from sleeping slouch in a seat and restricted by the seat belt, and feeling like you never got any sleep sucks.

Luke had been forced to stop on a deserted desert highway. I had thought it highly suspicious that a magical van with unending gas, which explained why the Son of Hermes had been able to drive so fast and was now officially the coolest magical item he had ever seen (imagining never having to pay for gas!) had found itself running on fumes.

Grover took it as a sign from Pan, that he was reaching out from wherever the god of goats hides to stop humans from putting excess carbon dioxide into the air. Then he had run off down the road towards the run down gas station. I hoped he was going to ask for help and not because of their buy one enchilada get a free coffee deal.

He had only been gone two minutes when it started.

The sky, which had been as blue as the ocean and clearer than I ever saw it in Manhattan, was painted black in seconds as dark thunder clouds rolled in. The sky opened and down poured. Luke went for cover in the van. The rain didn't bother me at all, seeing as I didn't get wet. A perk of being Poseidon's kid. I could stand in the rain for hours and never get sick.

But never mind that. While the ability to never get wet was cool, and would surely come in handy in case the Stoll brothers ever tried to dump a bucket of water on my head, I was more concerned by the storm.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a weather expert. My little knowledge about it comes from science and geography classes, which I failed because apparently Greenland does not mean green rolling hills, but I was certain that freak storms like this one were not common.

The rain fell harder and faster. Thundered rolled and the sky flashed as lighting struck in the distance. If not for the rain, I'm pretty sure that would have started a brush fire. The storm reminded of the night I first arrived at camp. That storm had come unexpectedly too, caused by Zeus, and I would bet Smelly Gabe a hundred dollars that he was behind this one too.

The lightning struck even closer, only feet away from me. "Percy, you idiot, get in the van!" Luke stepped out of his safety and yanked me towards the van. I got in with no extra prompting and the blonde team promptly floored it.

Luke jerked the steering wheel when a bolt of lightning hit the road in front of them. Cursing in Greek he hit the brakes, causing the vehicle to skid. "Damn it, Zeus."

"Zeus?"

Luke gave me a dry look. "Gods aren't supposed to interfere with quests, unless asked for help. Of course, that doesn't stop them. Picking and choosing which rules they follow. The gods are worthless hypocrites."

I glanced uneasily at Luke. There was so much bitterness and resentment. What on earth had happened to make him hate the gods. They're family.

'Then again,' I thought, thinking back to the Lord of the Sky's quick accusations, stubbornness, and overall bad attitude, 'I can see why it's hard to get along with some of them. '

Grover all but jumped into the van as soon as we pulled up at the gas. Turns out it was abandoned. "Lord Zeus isn't very happy."

"You mean he isn't always like this? I thought that the guy didn't know the meaning of chill pill."

Grover didn't share my sense of humor, and judging by the thunder which rumbled more dangerously, neither did my friend upstairs. Or maybe it was frienemy. It wasn't like I particularly liked Zeus, not after the asshole he had made himself out to be when I met him, but it would not be a good idea to get on his bad side. I wanted to live to sixteen and get my driver's license.

Unfortunately, that thought reminded of the damn prophecy that got me into this mess. Stupid mummies. They were bad news in the movies and they were worse in real life. They shouldn't be able to walk, talk, and kill, let alone ruin my life by predicting that I would either save the world or destroy it.

That was also when I remembered that I did not tell Zeus about me receiving the doomsday message, which guaranteed that he would see me dead for not telling him if he didn't kill me for not stealing his lightning bolt. I wondered how he was still shooting lightning at me if he didn't have it. Do they make spares for that sort of thing? Where would you have to go to get spare lightning bolts?

"Can you go any faster, Luke?" Grover asked, bleating nervously.

"Why?" I was startled. I mean, yeah, Zeus was acting a little spark happy, but he couldn't actually kill me before I finished, or didn't finish as it may be, could he? "We still have thirteen days to get to LA, convince Hades to give back the bolt, and get back to New York."

"Lord Zeus is trying to make this as difficult as possible for you, Perce. I just think that we should hurry so that there is no chance of missing the deadline."

Touching as it was that Grover didn't want to see me dead, probably the only other person besides Chiron and my dad at the moment, "He swore on the Styx. He can't kill me unless I don't return with his bolt. So there's no need to worry G-man."

The satyr glared at me, obviously not agreeing.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

I suppose I should take the time now to say that Grover was right and I was wrong. Really wrong. Like when playing Clue and you guess that the murderer was Mr. Green with the candlestick in the Dining Room and it turns out to be Mrs. White in the kitchen with the knife.

I was completely wrong. There was totally something to worry about. And I blamed Hermes.

Apparently, the messenger of the gods did not give Hades the memo that I wasn't responsible and the god of the dead decided to send an army of monsters after me.

Despite the ever constant rain, Grover had sniffed them two hours ago. He had said this was the largest gathering of monsters he had since I don't actually know when because he shut up quickly after a harsh glare from Luke. However, I didn't have time to think about the secrets that Luke and Grover were hiding from me, because there was an army of monsters after my blood chasing us down the highway.

I had said that Luke should turn around and turn them into road kill. I got a glare for that too.

Instead Grover and I pushed down the back seat, allowing me to lurch into the back of the van and throw upon the doors.

I wanted to close them almost immediately after seeing the battalion of monsters with sharp claws, fangs, wings, and battle axes.

There was no way I was going to be able to fight them with my sword, unless I wanted to throw it like a dart and wait for it to come back. Even if they were close enough I don't think I would have been able to keep my footing with the way Luke was driving. I made me wonder if he actually knew how to drive and if I should be reconsidering asking him to teach me.

Luke hit something in the road, causing the whole van to rock. I was knocked on my back. Stumbling back to my feet I saw the body of a disintegrating mix of a rooster and a horse. It was the weirdest sight I had ever seen.

I stumbled back to my feet. Feeling more than a little foolish, I held both arms out in front of me, thinking about shooting a jet of water from my palms, kind of like the hoses a firefighter uses. The stream of water slammed into the monsters in the forefront of the catch and kill Percy race. It sent them sprawling and caused others behind them to trip. Soon enough there was a pile up of monsters on the road.

It didn't kill any. Or stop the ones flying overhead. Or keep other monsters from going over or around the dog pile in the middle of the highway.

I watched dismayed as they continued to pursue us. My attack wasn't strong enough to kill them and I didn't have the skill to take them down with a sword. Never mind the fact that it would be suicide to fight 1 versus 100.

But how do you kill with water? I mean, I know people drown, but how do you drown a horde of monsters in the desert?

A brilliant idea came to me. I started with the harpies, vampirish looking things, and whatever else was flying. I concentrated on created a bubble of water, trapping them inside. They thrashed and gurgled as they tried to scream, but quickly turned to dust.

I grinned, immediately turning my killer bubble on another group of monsters. After the sixth time the monsters got the hint. They stopped running. I watched them grow smaller in the distance feeling very smug and proud of myself. My second encounter with monsters, and this time I escaped uninjured.

I closed the doors, put the back seat back up, and climbed over it. Leaning forward, my head between Luke's and Grover's, I gave Grover a noogie. "See, nothing to worry about."

Grover open mouthed gaped at me. Luke gave me surprised looks from the corner of his eyes.

A sign on the road flashed by. LAS VEGAS 146 MILES.

"So, what happened last time, Grover?"

The happy mood plummeted. Grover stiffened in his seat. Luke's grip on the steering wheel turned white from how hard he was gripping it. Grover looked anxiously between me and Luke, and with the smallest of nods from Luke, began the story of his first mission to bring a half blood to camp.


	5. The god of Supremely Unlucky Demigods

**AN: Surprisingly, it is much easier to write what I want Percy and company to do than it is to adapt Rick Riordan's writing to suit my plot. **

Grover's story was depressing. It made me regretted that I had asked. Being the kind of guy who jumps with both feet without looking, that was kind of a hard thing to do. I normally didn't care about the havoc I unwittingly caused unless it hurt my mom. Other than that, there was no limit to my stupidity, which I would freely admit only to myself.

Zues knows what Annabelle, which is what I was going to call her from now on seeing as she annoyed me, would do if she heard me admitting my lack of knowledge.

It turns out that Grover's luck is nearly as horrible as mine. Although I was still the crowned King of Nasty Luck.

Grover had unwittingly stumbled across three demigods. Thalia Grace was the first child of the Big Three that he had come across. She had run away when she was only nine. She had met up with Luke, and together they hunted down monsters. That lasted until they had come across seven year old Annabeth Chase hiding under a sheet of corrugated iron. I nearly interrupted to ask what that was but Grover kept talking before I could.

I imagined that her insane hero worship of Luke came to be when he gave her that dagger she was fond of.

Grover was supposed to lead Thalia to camp, but she refused to go without Luke and Annabeth. Not soon after the satyr had joined the group, Hades had learned of his niece's existence and literally set all the monsters in the Underworld on her.

Grover bitterly admitted that in his nervousness he made many wrong turns and even led them into a Cyclopes' cave, which allowed the monsters they had evaded for so long to catch up. Thalia had stayed behind to fight the horde of ugly beasts while he got Luke and Annabeth safely inside the camp's borders.

Ultimately, Thalia had been gravely injured and her father turned her into the pine tree that stood on the hill, Annabeth grew to be a spoiled know-it-all brat, Luke threw himself into learning how to fight, and Grover got demoted. It was the worst story ending I had ever heard. I fervently hoped that Poseidon would let me die and not turn me into a bed or kelp.

"Why didn't you stay and fight?" I asked Luke, who had not said a word as Grover retold his first protector's mission. I had seen Luke's skill with a sword. If he had stayed behind with Thalia they might have all made it to camp.

Luke clutched the steering wheel so tightly I thought it would break beneath his hands. His jaw tightened. "I wanted to." He said lowly. He clearly thought they could have won too."But she made me promise to look after Annabeth. Threatened to hit me with a bolt of lightning if I didn't grab her and follow Grover." A small smile formed. "Thalia wasn't one you fought with. She always won."

I could believe that. Girls were stubborn that way. It reminded me of my mother. She never failed to get me to do what she wanted, when she wanted it done. Although it was entirely plausible that it was more because I was a momma's boy and not because she was one of those tough as nails people that didn't know the meaning of the word 'no'.

I, however, did understand the word 'no'. It was my favorite word. Particularly when I had said it to Annabeth. I don't think anyone had ever told her no before. The look on her face had been so funny.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

We stopped for the night in Las Vegas. Luke pulled into the first hotel/casino he found. The Lotus Hotel and Casino was packed. And loud. And very, very colorful. Almost like they couldn't decide on a color scheme so a rainbow had thrown up all over the interior.

One step inside the Casino, in which we were greeted with plastic cards with lots of money, and I had the greatest idea.

"Hey guys. What do you think about staying a couple of hours?"

I had caught a quick glimpse of the many games on the casino floor as Luke rushed us through the lobby and up to our prepared room. I knew we were working on a deadline, but this was my one chance to prove that I could gamble better than Smelly Gabe. He had the worst poker face I had ever seen. He only won because his buddies were piss frightened of him. I wanted to go home after this quest and gloat about all that I had won in a casino.

Besides, we had ten days still. That was plenty of time to get to Hollywood and find the Underworld, convince Hades to hand over the bolt, and get it back to my prickly uncle.

Surprisingly, it didn't take a lot of begging to convince Grover and Luke that a couple hours of downtime were needed. That should have been my first clue. But I was so focused on deciding which game to try first.

The Lotus Casino was the coolest place I had ever been. The staff circled the floor, offering up a tray of the best cookies I had ever eaten. I took a handful every time a waiter walked by and stuffed my mouth so that I resembled a chipmunk.

Luke was playing one of those fighting games, the ones where you battle your opponent for three rounds. None of his challengers ever made it to round three. Even in a virtual video game, Luke kicked ass.

Grover had tried his hand at DDR. It lasted for one song before his fake feet popped off and revealed his hooves, which thankfully nobody noticed. Then he found a reversed hunting game and spent the rest of the night being a deer that hunted humans and screaming about how the wild would get its revenge on the nasty, dirty, polluting humans.

I on the other hand went straight for the indoors water park, which had some of the coolest water rides I had ever seen. Grinning and whooping I would shoot out of tubes much faster than anyone else, taking advantage over my abilities as son of the sea god.

I challenged a short black haired, kinda creepy kid all dressed in black to a game of ping pong. I left after one match because he wouldn't stop talking about some Mythomagic game that his sister never let him play.

It was so much fun that I nearly forgot all about my quest. I was only reminded of it when I found a movie theatre that was playing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I walked in on the scene where it zooms in on the baby's lightning bolt scar.

I cursed violently. How could I forget the death threat that hung over my head if I did not return Zeus's master bolt?

I pushed my way through a crowd off people, finally taking in the weird styles that everyone was wearing. There was a guy in bellbottoms and tie-dye with an afro. A woman who dressed like she belonged in the twenties, with her hair piled really tall on her head.

I cursed again. I was usually more observant than this. It came with ADHD. I found Luke, who still hadn't left his role play fighting game, and dragged him away. It was pointless until he jammed his elbow into my eye and I cursed like a sailor. (It was probably instinctive knowledge from Poseidon.)

"Percy? What are you doing? What happened to your eye?" I glared at him.

"We need to find Grover and get out of here."

"But you're the one that wanted to stay."

"Yeah, well, now I want to unstay. There are people here from a hundred years ago." I snapped.

"Unstayed?"

"Shut up, Luke, and help me find Grover."

It was much easier for the two of us to pull Grover away from his game. The casino was not so easy to leave. A group of bellboys blocked our exit as soon as they realized we were aiming for the doors. They threw platinum cards at, promising unlimited money, and said that a new game room was being built and would we stay just until it was finished.

I don't know who they thought they were fooling, but it sure as hell wasn't me. I was getting out of this casino before Zeus found me.

I did however take the shiny, silver, platinum card. After all the trouble they put me through, I felt it was the least I deserved.

"I should have known," Luke growled as he peeled out of the Lotus Casino's flashing parking lot, pushing the pedal to the floor and getting the hell out of dodge, or Las Vegas as it was.

"Known what?"

"The casino is a trap for the Lotus-Eaters. They were a race of people from an island near North Africa, filled with lotus plants. The plants are narcotic and addictive, causing people to sleep in peaceful apathy. Those that ate the lotus plant lost all their will and memory. They lure people in and trap them by offering them food containing part of the lotus plant. They feed off of positive emotions."

I should have been highly disturbed that I had nearly been tricked into staying at a casino run by monsters. And I was. I did not want to be trapped there, never aging and playing video games all day, even if that was every boy's dream. Instead I could only think it was unfair that I had to learn all this demigod, Greek, monster, myth, history from Annabeth who lectured like a teacher from Yancy.

Luke pulled into a gas station to refill the van. I took my platinum card and bought a bunch of soda and snacks for me and Luke. Camp Half-Blood was of the opinion that healthy eating made stronger demigods. And it wasn't like their food was great, because it was delicious. But they didn't allow candy, sugar, or soda.

They Stoll brothers snuck them in anyway and trade chores, favors, the best slots for activities for them. It was a price worth paying.

Grover glared balefully at me as I deposited my stash on the counter to be rung up. Then he saw the coffee and enchiladas and threw a dozen of them in with my food. The cashier gave us an odd look, but rang us up anyway. I swiped the platinum card from the casino, praying to whatever god this fell under that there really was money on it and it could be used outside the casino.

It went through no problem. It was only hours later when we stopped at the next gas station that I realized neither Luke nor I had paid for the gas.

I guess it didn't really matter. Hermes was a god of thieves.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

We finally made it to Hollywood. I picked up the nearest magazine. I had always enjoyed laughing at celebrities because they were so stupid and the gossip was often interesting.

I ended up choking and sputtering on my pretzel when I read the date. We had made great time across the country, the reason why I thought it was a brilliant idea to stay at the casino longer. When we had left camp we had had ten days to retrieve the master bolt. According to _People_ magazine it was June 20 and I only had one.

I really was the unluckiest person in the world.

I suppose it was a good thing that Chiron had already told us where exactly to find the entrance to the Underworld.

xxxUnravelingDestinyxxx

We left the van behind, standing at the base of the giant 'D' in the famous Hollywood sign. There was somebody leaning against it. He wore army pants, clunky heavy metal boots, a studded leather jacket, and a pair of sunglasses. He was bald and was smoking and reminded me an awful lot of Smelly Gabe. The guy reeked of cigarettes.

Luke bowed his head. "Lord Ares."

Just when I thought my luck couldn't get any worse. I had learned quickly in my short time as a demigod that a meeting with a god was bad news.

He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, releasing a cloud of smoke. "I got a favor to ask you, kid."

I knew he was talking to me. And I knew that the following conversation wasn't going to be pretty.

Tykhe must hate me for some reason. The goddess of luck had cursed me.


	6. We Walk into a Trap

It's comforting to know that the gods actually exist. Then, when something goes wrong, I know exactly who to blame. And I mean catastrophically wrong like a ship's engine exploding and not the dog ate my homework wrong.

I should have known better than to accept Ares's quest. I was already Styx deep in a quest for Zeus, who was probably already lovingly fingering his lightning bolt and taking aim.

Or he would be. If he had it. Which he doesn't currently, and might not ever because I wasn't going to find the bolt never mind return it before the end of the day because of one stupid god.

The next time your parents offer to take you to a museum displaying life sized models ancient Greek and Roman battles, suggest you take a vacation elsewhere. Somewhere like Maine, where nothing bad ever happens. Or go to the library. Much better to read about these things than to see them in real life.

Given how my last trip to a museum ended, I should have refused from the start. I swore I was never going to step foot in another museum again. They were crawling with monsters out to get me.

There was an echoing clang as I knocked over a suit of Roman armor. Well, slammed head on into it really. I scrambled to disentangle myself from the heavy gold breastplate and tower shield. A cacophony of hisses followed me around the corner. A dozen of twenty foot long snakes slithered into sight, spitting fire.

The fire didn't really hurt. It was more like the one time I spent all day on the beach but forgot to wear sunblock like my mom told me turn and got a really bad case of sunburn that made me look like a shiny red human lobster. Perk of being a son of Poseidon; we're rather hard to burn alive.

The downside to being a son of Poseidon? I was a monsters' favorite snack.

Grover, Luke, and I thought doing a favor for Ares would be really easy. I mean, he's all brawn and no brains so he couldn't have anything difficult in mind for us.

He told us to go to Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Apparently Ares was forced to leave behind his favorite poisoned spear ("It's imbued with venom from Ladon, punk." Was Ares excuse for why he was making us fetch it now. Luke had turned white at the mention of Ladon.) It just so happened to be the largest museum in the city, so getting in, grabbing Ares's toy, and getting out unseen would not be easy.

Grover suggested that we hide in the bathroom until the museum closed. I had already proved my mastery over plumbing once and felt no desire to hide in a public restroom for hours. Besides, we were on a time limit and I don't think Zeus would accept "I was in the bathroom" as a good excuse for not returning his bolt. My teachers never did.

I had voted that we just grabbed the spear and run. We were bringing the spear back to Ares outside the entrance to the Underworld, so I don't think any guard would find us.

Luke overruled both of us. He ran off to create a distraction so Grover and I could snatch Ares's favorite weapon.

As I ran through crowds of screaming tourist, I vowed to never let the son of Hermes be in charge of diversions again. I just don't see how sicing a nest of poisonous snakes the size of trees on us was helping.

I turned and aimlessly swung Riptide behind me. A snake shrieked as I stabbed its eye out.

"Watch out, Percy!"

I threw myself to the ground and rolled. I popped back up to see the tiles I had been standing on seconds ago melt. I ran for Luke, who had shouted the warning.

"This is all your fault!"

"C'mon, Percy. It was just a nest of basilisks. They should be a piece of cake after the Minotaur and a Fury."

"A basilisk! Like a Harry Potter you're dead if you look them in the eye basilisk! And you woke up six of them!"

"Kid, you really need to sit down and learn what are myths blown out of proportion and what's real. Meeting a basilisk's gaze doesn't kill you. It's the venom and fire you need to watch out for." He shoved my head down and a stream of flames seared above us.

"Just keep running! Where's Grover?"

"Here! Baaahh."

I caught site of Grover. He had the spear, thank Zeus. If none of us had gotten it I was going to drown Luke and feed him to the fishes.

I followed Luke through the fire escape door that Grover held open. The son of Hermes cut off the head of a basilisk that tried to wedge itself between the door and I got a mouthful of monster dust. And I had thought cafeteria food was bad.

The three of us scrambled up the rickety fire escape that was probably as old as the artifacts the museum had on display. We lay down on the roof of the museum to catch our breath, listening to the sounds of panicking mortals.

"So," Grover muttered, "how do we get down?"

"Preferably without getting arrested." I added.

"I'll fly us over to the next building. We can climb down from there and get this back to Ares."

The blonde stood, instructing us to grab onto his arms. With a shout of "Maia!" his sneakers sprouted wings and we jerkily launched into the air. A graceless landing on top of Crusty's Waterbed Palace, ten minutes to get Grover's hoof out a fire escape platform, and a smelly cab ride later, and we were bowing in front of Lord Ares.

"Back faster than I expected." He strapped the spear to his back, for a second it seemed to shimmer and looked like a rifle. "The basilisks were a nice touch. I'm sure they got rid of a few puny humans."

My blood boiled as he said it was a dog eats dog world where only the fittest survive. What was amusing about the deaths of innocent people? My fists clenched. I wished that I could uncap Riptide and stick him like a pig.

"Well, I promised to tell you the entrance to the Underworld. It's under the Dead On Arrival Recording Studios. The official one anyway. The back door is here behind the Hollywood sign."

"Official?" I interrupted. "You mean to tell me that people try to illegally enter hell?"

Fires burned in his eyes as he turned to look at me. Literally. Red flames. I suddenly saw myself dying in horrible ways.

"This entrance is for dumb heroes that think they'll be the first to get out of Hades' realm alive. Demigods on pointless quests that think they stand a better chance of succeeding by sneaking in instead of going through the official entrance."

Was he trying to say he thought we were going to die? Or was he giving us a warning to take the scheduled tour?

"Not that my uncle doesn't know about everything that happens in his kingdom. The living that enter can't mask the fact that their alive and Hades can sense that. If you reach him it'll be because he wants a word with you."

Luke politely thanked Ares through gritted teeth. The god of war handed him a red backpack filled with both mortal money and a handful of drachma, and a dozen packets of military rations. It was oddly nice for the god that threatened to turn me into a pig and roast me when I said I wanted nothing to do with his quest.

Luke accepted the backpack without a word and shoved me and Grover through the tunnel that formed by crumbling in on itself.

The entrance closed as soon as we walked through, throwing us into darkness. Next to me, Grover bleated nervously. "C'mon, man," I urged him, dragging him forward by the arm.

Not even seconds later we found ourselves standing in a field of golden wheat.

Imagine a wheat field in Kansas, so large that it stretches on to the horizon every way you look. Then imagine what it would look like if it was growing in an underground cavern with an occasional black tree-"Poplars!" Grover informed me.

If you pictured that, you still don't know what it feels like to stand in the Fields of Asphodel. Shoots of wheat withered and blackened under the feet of hundreds of thousands of dead souls and the air smelled more like it belonged in a swamp than Kansas.

Grover, Luke and I tried to blend in with the dead, attempting to avoid the security ghouls that walked around the Fields of Asphodel. It was kind of hard to do when flowers bloomed in Grover's hoofsteps.

We reached the border and I was disappointed to find that the Fields of Asphodel weren't actually inside the gates of hell. Apparently the Fields is for those people that either don't want to be judged or for those that lead uncomplicated, boring, normal lives. Up until Zeus threatened to kill me, I probably would have been destined for the Fields of Asphodel.

Inside the gates to hell, which oddly enough resembled toll gates on a highway, was Elysium, the Fields of Punishment, and the Isles of the Blest.

Elysium, which seemed to be the only happy place in the Underworld, was a gated community full of laughter and barbecues. The Isles of the Blest were three islands in the middle of a gorgeous, glittering blue lake, like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium. Immediately I knew that's where I wanted to go when I died.

However, there weren't many people Elysium. There were more people in the Fields of Punishment. It was depressing how few people did good in their lives.

"Let's go this way," Luke said, pointing to a tunnel to the side of the EZ-Death line that twisted around to pour people into the Asphodel Fields.

We walked a few miles through the tunnel. It slowly morphed from black grass to rock. The further down we got the more anxious and uneasy I began to feel. Like the sensation that someone is watching you, but every time you turn around no one's there.

"Are you sure we shouldn't search someplace like Elysium? Hades might hide the bolt in a place that isn't easy to get into." Grover asked.

"Come on, goat boy." Luke grabbed his arm, only to yell when the backpack nearly pulled his arm out of its socket.

The backpack dragged Luke down the tunnel, the blonde scrabbling to gain purchase but only scraping his fingers in gravel. Grover and I raced after him. We managed to stop him from being dragged into a pit.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, Percy." Luke's voice was weary, his hands bloody, and he was terribly scratched up. His body screamed exhaustion; his eyes fear. The son of Hermes had no idea what had just happened and it terrified him. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait—listen." A dark whisper was coming from the pit. Enticing me to come forward. I took a step.

"Oh no you don't." Luke cuffed me around the head, breaking the hold the chant had over me.

And then we ran as fast as we could back up the tunnel and as far away from the pit as we could get. "What was that place?"

"Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus."

Silently we followed the River Styx to Hades' palace. It was an exact replica of Olympus, carved from black obsidian instead of white marble. But it was just as mesmerizing and beautiful. It made me feel sad for Hades, banned from the wonder that was Olympus all but one day a year. It was obvious that he had tried to recreate his home here in the Underworld. If it wasn't for the fact that he took Zeus's bolt and was looking to start a war, I would feel sorry for him, estranged from his family.

The skeletal guards didn't try to bar us entrance to Hades' palace, though they probably discouraged girl scouts hoping to sell cookies.

It was easy to find the Lord of the Dead. His aura affected more than Ares' had.

Hades was at least ten feet tall, dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder length and jet black. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and as dangerous as a predator.

Simply put, the god radiated power. The power to kill you easily.

"Thank you for bringing me the master bolt, little Lightning Thief." He drawled.


	7. I Street Fight With a God

**AN: in honor of my one year anniversary as an author on fanfiction i've decided to update all my in-progress stories and to put up a few new ones. Hopefully, if i ever get writer's block, i can cure it by writing one of seven other stories.**

"So you are the Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson. Why did the Styx not kill you?"

I shared confused looks with Grover and Luke. Hadn't I already proved that I didn't steal the bolt? That was why I was here, to get it back from Hades. I opened my mouth, either to deny stealing the Zeus's shiny toy again or to ask what he was smoking, but that's not what came out.

"Can the Styx kill a son of Poseidon?" I blurted. "I mean, it can't drown me, 'cause I can breathe underwater. And I fell over the edge of a two hundred foot waterfall on my third grade camping trip and it didn't hurt at all."

Next to me, Grover bleated into his hands. Hades ignored my rambling. Which, while irking, was probably a good thing. Every time I opened my mouth lately I pissed off a god. I really didn't need to have the Lord of the Dead out for my head. He could probably kill me as easily as breathing.

"Give me the bolt, nephew, and your deaths will be painless."

"Dude, for the last time, I don't have it. I never did. Didn't take it. No clue where it is. This is just like that time in kindergarten when Susie accused me of stealing her green crayon."

It was the wrong thing to say. Gods do not take lightly to being addressed as "dude." Black fire burned in Hades eyes. "Don't not think me a fool boy. I can sense my brother's bolt. You will give it to me or you will never leave my realm."

I felt that I should have been scared about being locked in Hades's dungeon. But all I felt was anger. The gods never listened. I could understand why Luke was more than a little upset with them. They were never around, and when they were it was only to demand you do them favors. They squabbled amongst each other like little kids that hated sharing and meddled with demigods' lives to force them to comply. The god standing before me had given my mother back, but that didn't mean that he hadn't kidnapped her in the first place. I didn't even have to know why he needed a bargaining chip. I was going to kill him for touching my mother.

I uncapped Riptide.

"Percy!" Grover yelped, looking like he wanted to twist his still covered horns. Or my neck.

"Is that wise, Lightning Thief? If you attack first, there is nothing to stop me from crushing you."

Luke staid my hand, nearly crushing my wrist. "Don't Percy. I'm no fan of the gods, but you can't challenge one to a fight. He'll kill you."

Angrily, I sheathed my sword. "Wise choice, nephew. Now hand me the bag and my helm and I'll have you escorted out, through official channels, this time."

"Your Helm of Darkness has been stolen, too, Lord Hades?"

The Lord of the Dead gave Grover a withering glare. "As if you didn't already know. Your friend stole it for his father. Poseidon is the only one still in possession of his symbol of power. This time he will succeed in overthrowing Zeus."

I sighed, exasperated. Why were the gods still accusing me a being a thief? I only just learned they existed for Zeus's sake. "Do I have to swear on the Styx that I didn't steal your hat either?"

Hades paused, almost like he was considering my words. "If you did not, then who did?"

"The real Lightning Thief."

It was just a suggestion. Maybe a little heavy on the sarcasm because Hades looked angry again.

"Then you have admitted to stealing both the bolt and my helm. You have the bolt with you. Hand them over immediately and I will make it a painless death for lying to me."

Styx the gods were stubborn. I looked like Hades like he was crazy. And he had to be. Only crazy people didn't listen to sense. "Give me the bag!" the god demanded. "It is the sheathe for the master bolt. It might be transformed now, but I can sense the bolt's presence."

Luke dropped the bag like the supposed bolt of lightning struck him and I snatched it up. I overturned it, spilling its contents of clothes, sunscreen, and Oreos at the god's feet. "See, no lightning bolts here."

And then there was a crackle as a bolt of lightning as long as my arm fell out, releasing sparks and scorching the ground. I dropped the bag throwing my hands up. "I don't know how that got there. That's not my bag. Ares gave it to us."

Hades moved to pick it up, and I could hear Mrs. Dodds cackling above us, but the bolt zapped him.

"Of course, the gods cannot take another's symbol. I must wonder how Ares got a hold of it. Put it back in the bag and give it to me, son of Poseidon."

Oh, yeah, he was crazy. There was no way I was picking up a bolt lightning. If I even touched it once Zeus would claim I stole and then kill me. "Look, Lord Hades," I tried to be polite. Because of the Great Prophecy, all the gods but my dad would be happy to see me dead, and I really didn't need to add one more to the list of people that would celebrate at my funeral. "I already swore on the Styx I didn't take the bolt, and seeing as I'm not dead, I must be telling the truth. I don't know who took your cap,"

"Helm!" Grover hissed.

"Helm," I corrected, "but I can swear I didn't. If you let me return the bolt to Zeus, I'll look for your helm." I hoped that sounded convincing and sincere, and not like a just wanted to get out of hell.

"Very well, Percy Jackson. I agree." I scooped up Zeus's bolt into the backpack. "On one condition."

My heart fell through to my stomach. "One of your friends will remain behind. To ensure you come back."

I swallowed. My mouth was dry. I had to leave behind Luke or Grover. How could I force one of them to stay? I didn't know who the real thief was. I might never be able to find Hades's helm. The two of them argued behind me, saying they should be the one to stay behind. But it should be me.

"I'll stay. Let them go."

"No, Percy, you can't!" Grover yelped fearfully.

"Goat boy's right, Perce. You have to return the bolt. I'll stay. If Grover completes this quest with you he gets his searchers license. I've lived longer than most demigods. It won't kill me wait a bit while you find his helm."

"No way. I'm your protector. I'll stay. You might need Luke's skill with a sword. You know I'm useless in a fight."

"The demigod will stay." Before I could protest Hades had his skeleton soldiers drag Luke away.

"Go!" He shouted. "I'll visit with the dead heroes. I'll be fine. GO!"

I didn't want to, but what other choice did we have. Grover and I let more skeletons lead us up and out of the Underworld. They shoved us out of the Dead on Arrival studios, where I blinked rapidly at the sun's unexpected brightness.

"Come on, Percy," Grover tugged on my shirt. "We need to get moving. It's a three days train ride to New York."

"We don't have three days. The solstice is tomorrow. I think we need to get on a plane."

"You can't. Zeus will kill you if you literally fly through his domain."

I shook my head, disagreeing. "I've got his bolt now. He wouldn't risk shooting me out of the sky." I tried to sound confident, because I honestly thought he wouldn't give a damn. Apparently it worked, because Grover groaned.

"You won't even make it to the airport."

We both whirled at the sound of Ares's voice. The god of War was leaning against his bike. "Wouldn't the bolt get flagged by security?"

"Percy, flying was your idea."

"I know, I know, it just occurred to me that a lightning bolt would totally cause a scene when they scan luggage, and then we'd get arrested for being terrorists and we'd never make the deadline." That's when my ADHD made the connection.

"It was you." The god raised a dark eyebrow mockingly. "You stole the bolt. You're the Lightning Thief." Ares laughed so hard he needed the support of his motorcycle to keep standing.

"Punk, I didn't take my dad's master bolt. I'm not stupid. He exiled Dionysus to watch you brats for a century for chasing a tree nymph that was off limits. And she was off limits because he was interested in her." He tapped his aluminum baseball bat into his hand. "You were supposed to die."

I blinked at the change in topic. "You tricked me. _You _stole the helm and the master bolt. The prophecy was right. We faced the god in the west, but Hades wasn't the thief."

Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use?" Grover asked. "Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

The idea seemed to amuse him. "Doesn't matter. The point is, you're impeding the war effort. If you had died in the Underworld, Old Seaweed would have been mad at Hades for killing you, Corpse Breath would have had Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'd be mad at him, not to mention Hades is still looking for this . . ."

From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear—and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"But they're your family!" I protested.

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest."

His carefree attitude made me see red. Although that could have been him using his powers to make me angry. A war amongst the gods, all for his amusement. I pulled my sword out of my pocket and charged.

"Percy, don't!" It was too late. Ares snapped his fingers. The dirt exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood.

I pulled back as the beast snuffed and pawed at the ground, already lowering its tusks. "Fight me yourself Ares."

The god snorted. "Sorry kid, you're not at my level. You're all talk and no fight. You ran away from monsters. You ran from Hades."

The boar charged. I ignored Grover's warning to run. I was done running. From monsters, from Ares, from anybody.

As the boar ran towards me it began to rain. I sidestepped the beast, its severed tusk fell right at my feet while the disoriented animal staggered into a building. I was going to have to finish this quick. We were in the heart of L.A. Even with the rain and the Mist, I didn't want to risk innocent bystanders getting hurt. If Ares had no qualms about restarting the Trojan War, he wouldn't have any about mortals that tried to intervene.

"Are you going to fight me now?" I asked. "Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?"

Ares face turned purple with rage. He raised his baseball bat, which turned into a giant two handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.

"If I lose, turn me into anything you want." It seemed to be a favorite threat of the gods, turning demigods into animals. "Take the bolt. If I win, the bolt and helm are mine and _you _have to go away."

Ares sneered. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"

'A smaller ego.' I thought. 'And some unlimited strength and stamina of my own.' Ares didn't seem to have noticed the rain, but I did. I was in my element. The rain gave me strength, and as long as it was raining, I stood a chance.

He cleaved downward at my head. My body thought for me, like the night I fought the Minotaur, and I catapulted over his head, slashing as I came down. Ares was just as quick, twisting to block the strike that would have caught him directly in the spine.

"Not bad, not bad." He slashed again and I was forced to step back. I tried to get around him, uncomfortable with him standing between me and Grover, but his sword had a reach several feet longer than Anaklusmos.

_Get in close, _Luke had told me once, back in our sword class. _When you've got the shorted blade, get in close._

I stepped inside with a thrust. Ares was waiting for me. He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me in the chest. I went airborne—twenty, maybe thirty feet. I would have broken my neck if not for the rain softening the ground into mud.

When I stood I was seeing double. My chest felt like it had been hit with a battering ram. I rolled to one side as Ares's blade slashed into the mud. I came out of my roll, sword in hand, swinging at his face.

Once again he deflected me. Ares seemed to know exactly what I was going to do the moment before I did it. My ADHD was on high alert, taking in all the little tells Ares had that let me know when he was going to strike and which way.

The rain fell even harder. If Poseidon hadn't been my father, I wouldn't have been able to see my hand in front of my face. Ares came toward, grinning confidently.

I thought of the time with the bathrooms, when I had unknowingly caused the toilet water to burst and hit Clarisse in the face. There weren't any pipes her, but the storm drain might work. I back toward the street, lowering my blade like I was fatigued.

Ares followed. I concentrated on the water pouring through the metal grill, and felt a familiar pull in my gut as it responded to my wishes. Ares raised his sword. I released the sewer water and jumped, rocketing right over Ares.

A six foot wall of diry water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of sludge. I landed behind him, feinted an attack towards his head. Before it had failed, but this time he was disoriented. He didn't anticipate the change in direction and Riptide stabbed at an angle through his ankle, the point emerging from the god's heel.

The roar that followed made the Great San Francisco Earthquake look like a minor event. Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he had been wounded.

He limped toward me, muttering in Ancient Greek, no doubt about to renege on our deal and turn me into a cockroach. Something stopped him.

Sound and colored drained away. The rain slowed. A cold, heavy presence passed over, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted, taking the rain with it. Ares looked stunned. He lowered his sword. "You have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise you blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."

Ares limped towards his biked. It roared to life beneath him and he thundered down the street.

I turned to Grover, who was staring at me in a mixture of amazement and fright. "You were just cursed by a god. Ares is going to kill you."

It wasn't remotely funny, but I laughed. "Half the gods want to kill me anyway. What's one more? Now what's say we give this ski cap back to Uncle Hades, kick Luke's butt into gear, and get on the first plane to New York City?"


End file.
